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New Law in Texas Over LED Lights on Motorcycles

Those of you who live and ride in Texas, have either run into cops yourself, or know somebody who has, for having body lights on your motorcycle. Some of these fellows just wouldn’t understand how having ground-facing lights under the body of the motorcycle makes it more visible to the cagers at night!

It’s not just about the show. It’s more about safety. Visibility is key to our existence on the road, especially during night time. Until now, Texas law didn’t explicitly prohibit body lights on motorcycles. However, it was ambiguous enough for some law enforcement officers to interpret it such that they issued tickets!

This became cause for concern for a community-spirited individual, who approached the State Senator for his constituency, Kirk Watson. Senator Watson is a rider himself, and recently rode for over 3,000 miles to attend the 75th Sturgis Motorcycle Week.

The Senator embraced the initiative and set out to clear the verbiage of the law, so the safety-minded riders wouldn’t be harassed unnecessarily. He said:

“We need to do all we can to make riding as safe as possible. And we should do it so that we don’t put riders in a situation where they might be accidentally violating the law. Our laws should be clear so that people know how to comply and officers know what it is they’re enforcing.”

Senator Watson subsequently approached State Representative Joe Pickett, who is a rider too. Rep. Pickett then presented the bill before the House. Finally, State Bill 1918 was passed, to add Section 547.306 to the Texas Transport Code. This now makes it completely clear and legal that adding underbody lights on motorcycles is now completely legal in Texas.

James Anderson

2 thoughts on “New Law in Texas Over LED Lights on Motorcycles”

Steven Ssays:

except that it still has ambiguity and looks just like the law that is on the books, so maybe this is just sharing an old article? The problem is per line b.) it states you can only use white or amber lights that are on constantly, meaning that they do not flash. And other color of LEDs are NOT legal, yes most bike LEDs are colors other than amber or white.